Gentiana puberulenta
Gentiana linearis
downy gentian, prairie gentian
gentiane à feuilles linéaires, narrow-leaf gentian
1–5(–20), terminal from caudex, erect or nearly so.
1–30, terminal from caudex, erect.
cauline, ± evenly spaced;
blade narrowly oblong-lanceolate, 1.5–7 cm × 4–18 mm, apex obtuse to acute.
cauline, nearly evenly spaced or somewhat more widely spaced distally;
blade linear to lanceolate, 4–9 cm × 3–14 mm, apex acute.
1–6-flowered dense cymes or heads, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–3 nodes or on short branches.
± dense 1–7-flowered cymes, sometimes with additional flowers at 1–4 nodes, sessile or on branches to 12 cm.
calyx 11–36 mm, lobes linear, 4–18(–25) mm, margins ciliate;
corolla deep blue or rarely rose-violet, narrowly campanulate, open, (30–)35–60 mm, lobes spreading or ± recurved, ovate, 6–15 mm, free portions of plicae divided less than 1/2 their length into 2 ± triangular, lacerate segments;
anthers distinct.
calyx 8–28 mm, lobes linear to oblong, 2–12(–15) mm, margins not ciliate;
corolla blue or occasionally violet or white, tubular, loosely closed or slightly open, 25–50 mm, lobes ± incurved, semicircular, 2.5–5 mm, free portions of plicae obliquely triangular, margins entire or shallowly erose, with a minute, deflexed second segment;
anthers connate.
winged.
winged.
= 26.
= 26.
Gentiana puberulenta
Gentiana linearis
Gentiana puberulenta is evidently extirpated from Ontario, Louisiana, Maryland, and New York, where outlying prairie communities have largely been eliminated by agricultural and urban expansion.
The name Gentiana puberula Michaux 1803, not Franchet 1890, and the homotypic synonym Dasystephana puberula (Michaux) Small have long and often been misapplied to this species but are typified by a specimen of G. saponaria.
Some small plants of Gentiana puberulenta appear similar to G. affinis var. affinis, but only a few specimens appear actually to be hybrids between these species. Where their ranges approach each other, the flowers of G. affinis are generally much smaller than those of G. puberulenta, and the corolla lobes of G. affinis are generally less than twice as long as the free portions of the plicae, whereas those of G. puberulenta are more than twice as long. The flower size of G. affinis var. ovata more closely approaches that of G. puberulenta, but in that variety, the range of which does not overlap that of G. puberulenta, the leaves are usually ovate to elliptic rather than narrowly oblong-lanceolate, and the distal internodes are often about as long as or longer than the leaves, in contrast to the proportionately shorter internodes of G. puberulenta. For further guidance in distinguishing between G. puberulenta and G. affinis, see discussion under 13. G. affinis.
Hybrids of Gentiana puberulenta with the strikingly dissimilar G. andrewsii, constituting G. × billingtonii Farwell (as species), and with G. flavida, constituting G. × curtisii J. S. Pringle, occur in the tall-grass prairies. Hybrids with G. saponaria formerly occurred in western Maryland.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
Gentiana linearis is extirpated from New Jersey. Reports from Manitoba and Minnesota have been based on circumscriptions of G. linearis that included G. rubricaulis, mostly prior to the recognition of G. rubricaulis as a distinct species in standard floras. A report from North Carolina is incorrect, having been based on a misunderstanding as to where a photograph was taken (W. F. Hutson, pers. comm.). Narrow-leaved specimens of G. saponaria are occasionally misidentified as G. linearis but can be distinguished by their ciliate calyx lobes and by the shape of the calyx lobes and the free portions of the corolla plicae.
(Discussion copyrighted by Flora of North America; reprinted with permission.)
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